Michael Garr is resigning as Bandera city administrator and will begin working as the Bandera County Central Library director on Jan. 3.
Garr, 65, began working as city administrator on April 22 of this year. His resignation becomes effective Dec. 30, but he said he will be available to help the city until it finds a replacement. City council is expected to go into Executive Session at its meeting tonight to discuss hiring a new administrator.
Garr had worked several part-time jobs at the library for seven years before starting his job as city administrator. He was approached by the library board last week, and agreed to take over the position from John Hegemier.
“I’ve never been one to let the grass grow underneath my feet,” Garr said. “I’ve loved books my whole life, I loved working part-time at the library and now they’ve offered me a full-time job.”
He said the next city administrator will deal with several projects he was not able to finish, but he hopes he did everything he could to make sure that person will have as smooth a transition into the city of Bandera as possible.
“When they hire somebody else to take this position, there won’t be a big hole to climb out of,” he said. “I’m confident they will be able to hire somebody that’s going to be able to do a good job for the city. I want to make sure the next person they hire has every opportunity to succeed.”
Garr said in addition to having a fondness for books and for the library, he also left so his wife, Rose, could continue working as the city treasurer without council having to worry about trying to solve a conflict of interest or a nepotism issue.
He said he will miss working with the city staff.
He also said when he began working as administrator, he wanted the city to develop a closer relationship with the rest of the county.
“Bandera city kind of functioned like an island—they didn’t really make nice with our neighbors, and I took it upon myself to make sure we improved our relationship with the county—develop the partnerships a city needs to be able to function,” Garr said. “You need the assistance of your partners in the community.”